About BASC

What does BASC stand for?

How did BASC come about?

The organisation was founded as the Wildfowlers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland, (WAGBI) in 1908 by Stanley Duncan FZS and Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey Bt.

Why did Stanley Duncan form the Association?

There were three main reasons why he set up WAGBI.

He wanted to help professional wildfowlers;

He was becoming alarmed at the increasing drainage and subsequent development of much excellent wildfowl habitat;

He realised that as time went by it would be necessary to defend the sport of wildfowling against the growing enthusiasm of extremists bent on total protection of wild birds.

When and why did WAGBI become BASC?

In 1981 WAGBI changed its name to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). This change was agreed at the Annual General Meeting of that year in recognition of the fact that shooting sports required a single representative body and that WAGBI was the most suitably placed organisation to take on that role. BASC was incorporated as an Industrial and Provident Society and formally became The British Association for Shooting and Conservation Limited in January 1997.

How many members does BASC have?

A membership of over 150,000 and growing.

Where is BASC based?

The association’s national headquarters is based at Marford Mill in Rossett, North Wales. There are also four regional centres across England and three national centres in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

How many staff work for BASC?

There are currently 110 people working for BASC across the country.

How is BASC run?

The organisation is run by a democratically elected council of members. The council is charged with overseeing the management of the affairs of a growing, multi million-pound turnover organisation, which has very public responsibilities. In practice, the Council, as a body, delegates day-to-day running of the Association to the chief executive. This does not, however, detract from the Council’s overall responsibility.

How is the organisation structured?

The organisation’s patron is the Duke of Edinburgh. There is also a president, chairman, council and a chief executive.

The following departments are based at head office: administration, biodiversity, chief executive’s office, communications, media and publications, conservation and land management, deer management, finance, firearms, fundraising, gameshooting and gamekeeping, human resources, IT, membership, membership marketing, research, sporting services, wildfowling. These are overseen by directors and heads of department.

The country and regional offices – Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England (central, south east, south west, north) are headed up by directors who oversee regional officers and administrative staff.

What are our key aims?

BASC is a national representative body for sporting shooting. We have five strategic objectives:

A strong and unified voice for shooting

All party backing for shooting

Balanced comment in the media

Continued opportunity to go shooting

High standards

BASC Direct Limited

BASC Direct Limited (Registered in Wales No. 09113296) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Association. BASC’s Council established this company to ensure certain financial transactions relating to non-members can be easily identified, recorded and managed. Like all companies, BASC Direct Limited operates under the Companies Acts. Directors are appointed by BASC Council and may vary from time to time.

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